Cloth beam drive means for looms



y 19.68% I E. FARRwALLER $381,722

CLOTH BEAM DRIVE-MEANS FOR LOOMS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnventon Erwin Pfu rrwoller BY W ATTORNEYS y 9 E. PFARRWALLER 3,381,722

CLOTH BEAM DRIVE MEANS FOR LOQMS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 i 3 Sheets-Sheet Inventor.-

Erwin Pfurrwuller BY GM W ATTORNEYS May 7, 1968 E. PFARRWALLER 3,381,722

CLOTH BEAM DRIVE MEANS FOR LOOMS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Inventor: Erwin Pfurrwcller 8Y6; e m 11 M 624,;

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,381,722 CLOTH BEAM DRIVE MEANS FOR LOOMS Erwin Pfarrwaller, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignor to Sulzer Brothers Limited, Winterthur, Switzerland, a Swiss company Filed Nov. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 509,975 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Nov. 30, 1964 15,459/ 64 11 Claims. (Cl. 139-310) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed a cloth beam drive for a loom in which a cloth beam is suspended by means of two endless loops running in grooves at the ends of the cloth beam and running over a driven cloth pull-off roll, with hooks depending from the loom frame to limit transitional motions of the cloth beam.

The present invention relates to looms for the weaving of cloth, and more particularly to a drive mechanism for the cloth beam of a loom. In previous looms the cloth beam has been supported in stationary bearings disposed in the frame of the loom, and the cloth beam has been driven by means of a geared transmission including a slipping clutch. Such transmissions require a relatively large number of expensive parts. It is an object of the invention to provide a simplified mounting and drive for the cloth beam.

According to the invention, the cloth beam is driven by and is suspended in at least two beltor chain-type drives. Bearings for the cloth beam need therefore not be provided in the frame of the loom, and the slipping clutch of the gear driven drives of the prior art is unnecessary. In the construction of the invention, the drives themselves operate as slip clutches, since the beam can slip with re spect to those drives as soon as the peripheral speed at the surface of the roll of cloth on the beam corresponding to the angular speed attempted to be imposed by the drives exceeds the linear speed at which the cloth is delivered by the loom. In one construction according to the invention including a pull-off roll for the cloth, the driving belts pass over this roll so that the drive to the cloth beam is derived from this roll. The arrangement is advantageously stfifch ltlhat the cloth beam is suspended beneath this pull- 0 r0 Advantageously, each of the belt drives includes at least one tension pulley by means of which the vertical position of the cloth beam can be adjusted. In one embodiment of the invention having two tension pulleys for each belt drive, the two pulleys of each drive are supported on a common rail or bar which is adjustably fixable on the loom frame. This makes it possible to adjust the separation of the cloth beam from the loom. If for example the rails and consequently the tensioning pulleys are shifted away from the loom, the cloth beam will be disposed farther from the loom, and vice versa.

Desirably each of the tensioning pulleys of each pair is separately adjustable on its supporting rail. This permits adjustment not only of the separation between the cloth beam and the loom but also of the vertical position of the former.

In one embodiment of the invention employing belt drives, the cloth beam includes grooved pulleys for the belts. These prevent axial displacement of the belts and of the cloth beam. According to another feature of the invention a roll pressing the cloth against the cloth pull-off roll includes grooves or pulleys for the cloth beam driving "ice belts. In this way, the belts are prevented from axial displacement with respect to the cloth pull-off roll.

Further in accordance with the invention, it is advantageous to provide at least two hook-shaped members on the loom frame which loosely surround or embrace the cloth beam. These prevent the beam from undergoing undesired large oscillations or hunting. In the absence of such members, such oscillations may arise if the cloth beam should be lifted by the drive from the belts, the. linear speed of the belts being greater than the delivery speed of the cloth, until the friction between the belts and the beam is counter-balanced by the weight of the latter. Thereupon the beam will fall again to its first position and the lifting and falling cycle may begin again.

Preferably one or more tubes, as of paper or the like, are provided on the cloth beam for winding up separate widths of cloth. In this way a cloth beam extending the full width of the loom may carry a number of separate winding tubes thereon. Plural separate widths of cloth may then be simultaneously wound up on the beam and may be individually removed therefrom. Compressed air may be employed to expand the tubes in order to facilitate their application to and removal from the cloth beam.

The invention will now be further described in terms of a number of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view in elevation, and partly in section, of a loom according to the invention viewed from the cloth end;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a figure similar to that of FIG. 1 but showin g a modified form of construction;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section of the apparatus of FIG. 3 taken on the line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5--5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5, the tightening roll being removed, and

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of a modified form of belt drive according to the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the loom whose frame is indicated at 1 includes at the cloth end thereof -a cloth pull-off roll 2 having a rough surface for pulling off the cloth, and a roll 3 pressing the cloth against the roll 2. The roll 3 is supported on levers 4 pivoted about stub shafts 5, and rests by its own weight against the cloth driving roll 2. The cloth, shown at 6 by means of chain lines in FIG. 2, passes over a breast beam 7 which may be made of an angle iron, and then under the roll 2 and over the roll 3, and thence to the cloth beam 8. The maximum circumference of the roll of finished cloth is indicated at 16. The cloth beam 8 is supported by means of two endless belts 9. These belts pass over the cloth pull-off roll 2 and are driven thereby. Consequently, the cloth beam itself is driven by the roll 2. The belts 9 may be of wedge-shaped cross-section and run in grooves '11 of the cloth beam (FIG. 1). They pass over the cylindrical surface of the cloth driving roll 2 and are prevented from axial motion thereon by grooves 12 in the presser roll 3 through which they also pass. Since the belts are prevented from moving axially by the grooves 12 of the presser roll, the cloth beam itself is restrained against axial motions.

Two hooks 13 and 14 are afiixed to the loom frame, as by means of welding. They loosely surround the cloth beam, engaging grooves 15 therein. 'Ihese hooks prevent the clot-h beam from executing horizontal oscillations. The hooks proper are spaced from the loom frame sufliciently in a downward direction (FIGS. 1 andZ) and to the right (FIG. 2), Le. away from the loom frame, to avoid interference between the cloth and the loom frame even when a full roll of cloth has accumulated on the beam. The length of the belts is moreover so selected with reference to the formation of these books that the cloth beam clears the bottom inside surface of the hooks, indicated at 17 in FIG. 2. Upon exchange of cloth beams they rest temporarily in the hooks.

The diameter of the cloth driving roll 2 is somewhat larger than that of the cloth beam 8. Due to the fact that the belts 9 run in grooves 11 on the cloth beam, the peripheral speed of the surface of the cloth beam is (assuming no slippage between the belts and either of the rolls 2 and 8) higher than the peripheral speed of the roll 2. Hence, even when the cloth beam is empty with a diameter for the cloth thereon substantially equal to the diameter of the beam itself, the cloth beam tends to Wind the cloth tightly or snugly thereon.

As cloth accumulates on the beam 8, the weight supported by the belts 9 increases. Hence the available force of friction between the belts 9 and the cloth beam increases also, rendering more diflicult slippage between the two. The belts are therefore able to apply more torque to the cloth beam. This increasing torque does not however significantly increase the tension at which the cloth is wound up in view of the increasing diameter of the cloth. Consequently the tension at which the cloth is Wound up remains substantially constant.

If several widths of cloth are to be wound simultaneously, a number of paper or cardboard tubes can be slipped over the beam as shown in dashed lines at 21 in FIG. 1. When the winding of the cloth has been completed, they may be separately removed. The cloth can then be delivered for further processing without the cloth beam '8. Compressed air can be employed. to expand the tubes when they are slipped onto and removed from the beam. The tubes will however adhere tightly to the beam when the application of compressed air is discontinued.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, the belts 9 are engaged between the hooks 13 and flanges 18 formed on the cloth beam 8. In this way axial motion of the cloth beam and of the belts with respect to each other is prevented. Additionally, two guide rails 22 are aflixed to the loom frame, adjustable in position by means of adjusting screws 23, as indicated in FIGS. 4 and 5. Each of the rails 22 supports a pair of tensioning rollers 25 on separate stub shafts 24. Both halves of each belt are passed over these tensioning rollers and are pressed thereby towards each other, as indicated in FIG. 4. The pulleys 25 i are shown in FIG. 4 in full lines in intermediate tensioning position, with positions of tighter and lesser tension shown by means of chain dashed lines at 25a and 25b respectively. Screws 24' permit the position of the pulleys to be thus adjusted on their rails. Increasing the tightness of the pulleys 25 to the position 25a will lift the cloth beam to a position as shown at 8a. Even when the pulleys are moved to the outer position 25b, the consequent lowering of the cloth beam does not permit it to rest on the hooks 13.

Alternatively, it may be provided that only a single one of the pulleys 25 of each pair can be adjusted along the rail 22. Or, the construction may be such that the whole rail is moved to the right or left after release of the tightening screws 23, shown especially in FIG. 5. With this last form of construction, the position of the pulleys 25 to each other and to the rail 22 being constant, adjustment of the position of the rail will shift the cloth beam toward or away from the loom so far as permitted by the opening of the hooks 13. The books themselves may be adjustably supported on the loom.

Thus individual adjustment of one or both of the pulleys 25 of each pair effects vertical adjustment of the cloth beam 8, whereas adjustment of each rail 22 shifts the horizontal position of the cloth beam.

In FIG. 3 the left hand rail 22 supports a hook 26 to carrythe belt when the cloth beam is removed.

In the further modified embodiment of FIG. 7, the cloth beam 8 is provided at each end with a pair of mutually opposed substantially conical surfaces 28 and 29, the latter being axially movable on a pin. The separation of the surfaces 28 and 29 can be regulated by means of a wing nut 31 and a lock nut 32. In this way there may be controlled the depth at which the belt 9 operates between the surfaces 28 and 29, i.e. the effective radius of the belt on the cloth beam and hence the tension at which the cloth is wound up. According to the nature of the cloth, the tension is adjusted at the beginning of the winding operation by means of the nuts 31 and 32 at each end of the cloth beam and the tension so established will be held approximately constant during the winding up of the cloth.

In a further modified embodiment, the cloth beam is provided with rings affixed thereto in place of the flanges shown at 18 in FIG. 3. If these rings are located at the position of the flanges and if the belts are disposed be tween such rings and the hooks 13, as indicated in FIG. 3, the operation thereof with respect to axial displacement of the belts with respect to the cloth beam is the same as that of the flanges 18. Various other constructions are possible wherein rings affixed to the cloth beam themselves include grooves in which the belts are run.

The invention includes other embodiments employing a plural section cloth beam. In such constructions two drives must be provided for each section, such section being suspended in those drives. In place of belts there may be employed chains. In such case, sprocket wheels may be applied to the cloth beam at the location of the grooves 11 of FIG. 1. The driving chains will then be passed over the cloth driving or pull-off roll 2, Without however the use of sprocket wheels, so that the chains can slip on the roll 2.

It is further possible to suspend the chain or belt drives from elements other than the cloth pull-off roll and to drive them by other means, as for example from the presser roll 3 or from a separate part provided therefor. This drive source need not be located above the cloth beam. Rather, it may be disposed to the left of the rolls 2 and 3 in FIG. 2, in which case each belt will pass over guide pulleys to the drive source itself, located in FIG. 2 to the left, within the loom itself.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides means to drive the cloth beam of a loom. These means comprise a plurality of flexible filamentary endless loops 9, in the form of belts or chains for example, in which the beam is hung and rotary means such as the roll 2 over which those loops pass to derive a drive therefrom. The means of the invention for driving a cloth beam further comprise bearings in which the rotary means are mounted. These bearings are shown at 10 in FIGS. 1 and 3, and are advantageously mounted in the loom frame 1, in fixed position with respect to the hooks 13.

While the invention has been described in terms of a number of preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited thereto but rather comprchends all modifications thereon and variations therein falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom, cloth beam driving mechanism comprising a pair of substantially horizontally aligned bearings, driven rotary means mounted in said bearings, a pair of flexible endless loops engaged over said driven rotary means, and a cloth beam supported by and suspended at each end in a separate one of said endless loops.

2. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the cloth beam includes grooves for the receipt of said loops.

3. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said cloth beam includes flanges.

4. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 1 including at least one tensioning pulley engaging each of said loops.

5. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 4 including a pair of tensioning pulleys per loop, and separate means supporting each of said pairs in fixed position relative to said bearings.

6. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 5 in which the pulleys of each pair are individually adjustable on their said supporting means.

7. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 1 including a plurality of Winding tubes on the cloth beam.

8. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the cloth beam includes for each of said loops a pair of conical members coaxial With the cloth beam and defining between them a groove for accommodation of one of said loops, and means to adjust the spacing of said conical members.

9. In a loom, cloth beam driving mechanism comprising a pair of substantially horizontally aligned bearings, a cloth pull-01f roll mounted in said bearings, a pair of flexible endless loops engaged over said pull-off roll, a cloth beam suspended in said endless loops, and a presser r011 resting against said pull-olf roll, said presser roll being grooved to accommodate said loops.

10. In a loom, cloth beam driving mechanism comprising a pair of substantially horizontally aligned bearings, driven rotary means mounted in said bearings, a pair of flexible endless loops engaged over said driven rotary means, a cloth beam suspended in said endless loops, and two hooks fixed with respect to said bearings, said hooks loosely embracing said cloth beam.

11. Cloth beam drive mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the cloth beam includes grooves to accommodate said hooks.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,541,265 6/1925 Holmes 139-310 FOREIGN PATENTS 584,105 9/1933 Germany.

102,624 10/ 1962 Netherlands.

HENRY S. JAUDON, Primary Examiner.

MERVIN STEIN, Examiner. 

